Aric Pierce

Aric Pierce is an MPA candidate at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), originally from Adelaide, South Australia. He is focusing on environmental governance, land stewardship and the energy transition, bringing over a decade of policy experience across state and federal government and professional services.

He previously served as an Adviser to the Australian Minister for Finance, with policy responsibilities spanning water, agriculture, and the environment. Aric later moved into the private sector, where he advised on strategic energy transition projects to accelerate public sector decarbonization. He went on to hold senior advisory and leadership roles in the Australian and South Australian Parliaments before beginning his MPA at HKS.

His commitment to land stewardship extends beyond his professional work. He believes the natural world is not inherited from the past so much as borrowed from the future, and that duty carries into everything he does outside the office. Aric has supported local environmental restoration projects back home in Australia and volunteered in efforts to protect native flora and fauna from invasive species in the Adelaide Hills.

At HKS he is directing his coursework and research toward climate and environmental policy and the system dynamics that shape this space. He believes institutions like the Harvard Office for Sustainability play a vital role in turning that ambition into action.